A Little Chat About Hair Loss

The one thing I hear almost daily is from clients that are nearing or over fifty. The tell me that their hair is thinning so much. In fact I hear it from lots of younger people too.
First off, coloring your hair over a long period of time (professionally) will NOT make your hair thin. Bleaching and over processing the hair can "burn" the scalp, and cause dryness, or irritation, and even hair loss due to breakage. But in 40 years in the salon ,I have never heard of people's hair thinning from topical use of hair color products. Damage, yes, loss, no.
SO, what are the many reasons for hair loss and thinning?
My particular alopecia is an auto-immune response disease that ran it's course and stopped. The hair wont grow back because my immune system wiped out the hair folicles and the roots. WHY? no body can give an answer on that.
The other major players are:

Nutritional, when your body is deprived of certain nutrients, it has a unique way of protecting vital functions, and that is by eliminating others. Good nutrition is the main element of all health, skin, hair, eyes, bone, teeth, nails. Which is why most Hair regrowth remedies focus on nutrition. (Biotin, Folic acid, vit C, B complex, etc)

Hormonal. hormones seem to give us trouble all of our lives! at puberty we have so much the skin breaks out, the hair is oily, and we are generally anxious and moody, not to mention in love at the drop of a hat. later on though we have to come to terms with living without them, as we age.  Male pattern hair loss can be treated with topicals that block free TSH in the skin, and with rogain or minoxidil .  If you are female, I advise a hormone panel done with your bloodwork, if the loss is excessive or extremely troubling to you.

Tension alopecia.  Long term use of tight ponytails, braids or hair clips can and will cause the root of your hair to stop producing hair. I have no real explanation why, but it does. very heavy, long hair extensions that are left in or replaced and worn for long periods of time will also cause tension alopecia. When you get hair extensions, your operator should be wise enough not to put extensions back in the exact same place over and over. The new extensions should be moved slightly to a section of hair that did not have an extension in the prior application.

STRESS! why does stress casue your hair to thin. the main theory is that as stress builds, we tighten up (relaxation failure) the scalp becomes tight and hard. this does not allow adequate blood supply to the scalp. This is why we do a good scalp massage in the salon when you get a shampoo. Many of you have heard me  tell you that your scalp is too tight, and to massage with hands or a good hairbrush to loosen the scalp and increase the blood flow.

Heat. people who wear hats int he hot Florida sun can find their hair thinning. It is important that the hat you choose is lightweight and breathable. Your body sheds a total of 1/3 of your body heat through the scalp when trying to cool itself. When you add the internal heat to the external heat, your hair roots will suffer.
 I am sure there are many more reasons, and then some unexplained causes of hair loss and thinning hair. But these are the main ones. What you need to remember is to look at the big picutre and first try to identify any of these causes that you feel may be what id causing your trouble. If you are suffering stress related hair loss, hormonal remedies most likely wont help. on the other hand nutritional support can NEVER hurt. So as a dog chases it's tail, here we are back where we started , wondering where has my hair gone?

Hope this can help

More Ultratress.....

Wendy came in with clip-in extensions, and severe hair loss from the metal clips. Clip-in extensions are quite heavy, and her fine hair had suffered several bare spots where the hair had come out by the root.
First off she wanted to go back to dark brown, but seemed to like my Burgundy color, so we sectioned of the top and front, applied a dark brown to the bulk of hair, to which a reconstruct treatment had been added, then I added a medium red-violet to the dark brown and did the top and sides.  Then we put in one package of Ultratress II level 2, 14 inch body wave  hair, trimmed the ends and here is our new look!!  Wendy's blue eyes pop with this dark brown, and the red tones give her just the flair she was looking for

Mission Complete! (almost)

Thanks to all our clients who took the time, and made the effort to vote. On their cell phones and using the free Wi-Fi at the salon,, and at home, putting up with my relentless posting on Facebook, asking them to ask their friends to "Vote for A Couple Gals Salon"
Well, we made it!! we received just over the required number of votes to qualify us for the final consideration for this grant.
Now, our lovely heartfelt application will go before a panel of  business and marketing experts, along with all the other applications to complete the required votes.  The choices will be made by  September.
So it looks like a "long hot wondering about the grant" summer at the salon.   As intensely as I went after acquiring the votes, I will also be patient in the wait, and know that God's infinite wisdom will give us what we desire, in His time. But it certainly will be welcome if you should decide to hope, pray, for our expansion. Money is not the only obstacle. It is not even the biggest one. It is the one that would allow me to provide the very best of everything to you, my staff and clients.  What a blessing it would be to go forward without having to budget, and search high and low for more affordable options. Just once to ask, what is the very BEST.... that's what I want!
Thank you from the heart to all those who put up with my constant "reminders" (begging?) for votes. We made it!! When I started out, I thought it would be impossible, It turned out to be quite manageable, and taught me WORLDS of stuff about Facebook, and how to market the salon there.
 So for now, keep the thoughts and prayers coming our way, I wont be badgering anyone on Facebook for votes any more. Thank you all again...

Joanne

GOT FACEBOOK??

 Chase Bank, Living Social, and FB have  teamed up to fund and award 12 small businesses with a  $250,000 grant.   I have applied for one of these grants. Then they throw ya a little curve, I have to get 250 Facebook VOTES. So dear ones, if you read this, and you are on Facebook, please go to your FB page, or use this link... A COUPLE GALS SALON, and use the link to "Mission Small Business" to vote for us, Please. Our need to expand is a daily reality for us. We are waiting on the go-ahead from the landlord for the space right next door to use that will be available in a few months.
So PLEASE hit me up on Facebook and give us a little vote, maybe ask  a few folks to help us out too?

(area right of center wall is our hoped for expansion)

 please vote for A COUPLE GALS SALON, west palm beach, Florida

 

Mission: Small Business℠

www.missionsmallbusiness.com

Chase and LivingSocial are awarding $250,000 Grants. Vote for your favorite small business at www.missionsmallbusiness.com.

Spring is HERE!!!

A lot of things cooking here at the salon. We have had a wild busy spring, and ideas are running wild!! We have applied for a small business grant through living social, Chase Bank, and FACEBOOK! If you are a facebook-er please search for  A COUPLE GALS SALON, where you will find a link to "Mission Small Business" use that link to vote for us. We really need to get in the final consideration because........ (drumroll).... We are planning on doubling the size of our salon! A space next door to us will be available in the coming months and we are going to GO FOR IT!!! When that happens, we will add a brand new client lounge and breakroom for staff, and a service are for Permanent makeup and waxing. We are bursting at the seams, and this is a blessing coming to us. A grant to pay for all new equipment (rather than financing) would make my day-week-year-years!!!! Not to mention the giant party we would have when the renovation is complete!!  Keep our expansion in your thoughts and prayers as we expand! I cant wait to knock a hole in that wall!!!!!!!
Vinnie has donated a 55 gallon aquarium to our new space, and I have already picked out a spot for it, along with art, chairs, and a floorplan. Now you know why I am so anxious!!

So, as summer months roll in and everything slows a bit in the heat, you can bet that we will be chillin, and making plans for expansion at A Couple Gals Salon!
Come visit!

Quinceañera

We had the honor of providing the formal hair requirements of a lovely group of young ladies for a Quinceañera last week. Love girls on their way to church and then a reception .For the Latin cultures, equivalent of the "sweet 16" in American culture. Enjoy the pictures of Joanne and Vinny's work

At Home Keratin Treatments

I know that Keratin treatments are expensive, very expensive. One of the reasons they are expensive is because of the time involved, the other is the simple cost of the product itself. A reputable Keratin treatment is usually about $160 to $190 for an 8 ounce bottle, averaging two ounces per treatment on an average head of hair. Now there are at home keratin treatments on the market.
I have but one experience with one of these products. At the time, I had no idea there was an "at home" offering for this treatment. A girl in our plaza had done her hair at home. It DID look nice. I did not really believe her when she told me about an at home kit, mainly because her hair looked nice, but in the coming weeks, her hair began to break and large areas at the crown and along the sides broke to just a few inches long. I saw her today (she no longer works near us) She stoppled in to say "HI" she was wearing a knit cap, and said that almost all of her hair had broken off. That is the very last thing we would ever want to see happen to anyone.
Ladies we do hair because we love it. We offer our services to you because we like our jobs, and like seeing our clients happy, and loving their hair, and our work. we are glad we can make a living doing what we love,but we are not in this business to charge huge prices and make a ton of money. We average an hourly rate, and charge related to that, and cost of materials. That is the truth, plain and simple.
What I am saying is this; we are here to serve you, to give you the benefit of training we have received directly from the products manufacturers. We spend a lot of time comparing these products, their ingredients, and ease of use . We find the most appealing to be a line that offers cost effectiveness, lower toxic byproducts, long lasting results, and good quality hair condition after treatment. We offer several different kinds of Keratin treatments, and our choices have been made, after much consideration and research.
Ladies, would you REALLY take the chance on sacrificing your hair to save $100. ?? If we offer you a Keratin treatment, you have our promise to take the utmost care of your hair, and to ensure you the best condition. We stand behind our work, and will make sure your hair stays in the very best condition it can